Bronny James’ entrance into the NBA has been met with enormous criticism as the Los Angeles Lakers selected him in the second round of the draft last month.
The noise got louder over the weekend when the former USC guard made his Summer League debut and scored four points on 2-of-9 shooting against the Sacramento Kings and then missed the second game against the Golden State Warriors because of a knee issue.
LeBron James, Bronny’s father, told ESPN on Sunday that his son is ready to handle all the criticism fired in his direction.
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"I don't know if people really understand Bronny," James said. "He doesn't care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in [as a rookie], I wanted people to like me, and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career.... He doesn't give a f---.
"He does not care about nobody. He doesn't even listen to that stuff. He's like the coolest. He's like the complete opposite of his dad. His dad will say something [to address the critics]. Bro does not care.... Everything that's being said about him, he really does not care."
James said he didn’t know if he would be able to handle what Bronny’s going through if the situation was reversed. He said Bronny could have done anything else but "people don't understand how hard that is and the commitment for him to be coming out of heart surgery less than a year ago, for him to be able to be in the NBA, the kid, he's special."
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He insisted that the criticism doesn’t "bother" his son.
Bronny is reportedly set to play most of the 2024-25 campaign in the G League with the South Bay Lakers but there will definitely be a handful of times for the James family to make history as the only father-son duo to play in an NBA game together.
The Lakers are entering the year with another new coaching staff led by J.J. Redick. The team also whiffed on a handful of big-name free agents.
James chalked it up to it being part of the business and not necessarily the fault of anyone in the front office.
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